Saturday, November 05, 2011

Some People Just Don't Care ...

Jesus. It's so simple.

That's the amazing thing about revelations: They're not intricate. They're not complex. They're simple. They're right there, on the face of things. Like "He's just not that into you." No mystery. Plain as day.

Puttering around the kitchen this morning, I was half listening to "House" coming from the other room. It was the all-Cuddy episode, the show that was shot from her perspective for a change. In it, she, the dean of medicine, is doing battle against Atlantic Net Insurance. She wants a 12-percent bump in hospital reimbursement. Atlantic Net is offering 4.

She finds the CEO, having lunch, and this exchange ensues:

Cuddy: While Atlantic Net Insurance has a marketing budget that's more than our Pediatric's ICU and Transplant Units combined, your PGA sponsorship could pay for our Walk-In Clinic. And the money you spend to fuel your two private jets could fund our air ambulance service for the next 3 years.

CEO: Your point being?

Cuddy: Your growth may be good for your bottom line. But ours allows us to save lives. And I would rather not have to announce to the press how selective your company appears to be when it comes to cutting costs.

CEO: Morgan was right. You are one tough gal. You can portray me as a rich bastard in the press all you want, just as long as I stay rich.

Today, I heard that line of dialogue as if for the first time.

And it finally hit me, with regard to all that is going on in the world today:

Some people just don't care.

Period.

Some people just don't care.

My brain has been trying to comprehend how some people can be so selfish, so consumed with the pursuit of wealth, so detached from the plight of so many.

And now I get it: Some people just don't care.

Some people just don't care that millions of Americans are unemployed. Some people just don't care that people have been and will be evicted from their homes. Some people just don't care that so many citizens are unable to afford health care.

Some people just don't care.

Of course, now my brain is trying to comprehend why some people just don't care. Is empathy learned? Is it generosity genetic? Why are some wealthy people, like Warren Buffett, saying, "Please, raise my taxes. Make me pay more" while others think they're nuts? Why are Republicans in Congress so blatantly protecting the rich while making ordinary Americans suffer?

Because some people just don't care.

Now, there may be larger issues at play. Maybe these people see their entire worth as human beings reflected in their bank statements. Maybe their only validation can be found in their ability to purchase a $6,000 shower curtain. For one of their bathrooms. In one of their homes.

Or maybe to think that way gives them too much benefit of the doubt.

Maybe they're just selfish. Period.

Me, I give what I can. Which is not to pat myself on the back, but to illustrate a point. I don't have a job at the moment. Not a "real" job. I freelance, and sometimes, there is money coming my way and sometimes, there is not. But the last time I sat down to write out bills, I wrote a check to a food bank that was looking for contributions toward providing food to families for Thanksgiving.

It wasn't a big check, but it was something. And I could have justified not sending any money. But I had a few dollars in my checking account that, at the moment, I could spare. My debt will not be erased by that $25, but if a family has a meal for Thanksgiving because of it, in my heart, that is money well spent.

And in a larger sense, I believe that generosity is repaid. Not literally. I do not expect to happen into $25 because I sent $25 away. But in the end, everything can be reduced to love or fear. Keeping that $25 would have been an act of fear, fear that more money would not be coming my way. Letting that $25 go was an expression of the belief that money will continue to come to me.

Maybe some people don't know that. Maybe some people don't believe that. Or maybe some people just don't care.

2 Comments:

Once you realize these people truly do not care, you also understand that they will never change.

Which is why, no matter what lies they tell, we should not vote them into office or allow their selfish approach to running businesses to be an acceptable way for this country to conduct itself.

Even Republicans used to care. Now I feel sorry for the old school Republicans because the don't-care-brigade has taken over their party. How many will have the courage next November to show they care by voting for others who do, or by staying home?